A new San Mateo County civil grand jury report indicates East Palo Alto charter schools have improved student performance in the district but may also be creating some financial problems for traditional schools.

The report — titled “What Grades are the Charter Schools in East Palo Alto Earning?” — praises three charter elementary schools and two charter high schools serving East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park children. It also suggests Ravenswood City School District board members meet more frequently with officials at those schools to apply new teaching strategies and practices to the district’s traditional schools.

“The charter schools that have been operating for five years or more are making solid, positive contributions to student performance and have highlighted the importance of parent involvement and maintenance of high student expectations,” the report said.

However, “both the district and the charter schools have expressed the need to increase both formal and informal collaboration among teachers and principals with the superintendent and the school board,” the report continued. “Some have described a relationship lacking in trust, which negatively impacts the community and its leaders, creating a lack of community commitment and cohesiveness.”

The grand jury attributed much of the charter schools’ success to greater freedom in developing new curricula, selecting textbooks and removing low-performing teachers. In contrast to traditional schools, all but one charter school in East Palo Alto employs nonunion teachers, the report said, noting that “several of the best practices allowed in the Ravenswood charter schools would be difficult to implement under the current union agreements in the Ravenswood traditional schools.”

The state doles out funds to the district based on average daily attendance of students. With about 1,500 of Ravenswood’s 4,900 students attending charter schools, the district must give 25 percent to 30 percent of that money to nontraditional schools, according to the report.

“The immediate reduction in expenses in the traditional schools would be less than the lost funding to the charter schools, because some costs can only be reduced over time, such as buildings and other infrastructure,” the report said.

Trustee Sharifa Wilson described those dwindling funds as “a challenge,” particularly when coupled with state budget cuts.

“It means that we have less money, but we still have to meet the needs of students,” Wilson said.

Laura Ramirez, principal of East Palo Alto Charter School, which received praise from the grand jury for its exceptionally high test scores, attributed her school’s success in part to flexibility. Ramirez added that teachers focus on giving students a strong sense of order and responsibility, particularly since many children come from chaotic home situations.

East Palo Alto Academy Elementary School employees already are participating in district teacher-education programs, and the school hopes to increase that collaboration in coming years, Principal Nicki Smith said.

Smith’s school recorded lower test scores than fellow charter elementary schools East Palo Alto Charter School and Edison Brentwood Academy, but the report said that was likely because it was only in its second year of existence at the time of the testing.

“There’s a significant body of research that shows that it takes at least three years for a school working in a challenging population to show good scores,” Smith said. “This year, we’re just much more solid, and I’m hoping that when the scores come out in the summer they will be much better.”

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